Pacific Puerto Asís

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio/vlog version of this story, click here.]

'It's a bit "caliente" down there, be careful.'

That was the general response from Bogotá-based acquaintances when I told them I was heading to the town of Puerto Asís in Colombia's Putumayo department, close to the border with Ecuador.

As nondescript as Puerto Asís's urban area is, it takes a hold on one all the same.

Dearth of delinquents

Caliente, hot that is, wasn't in reference to the weather (although, with afternoon temperatures regularly reaching over 30 degrees Celsius and high humidity, it certainly is sultry). No, hot in this context refers to the security situation, as in it's dangerous.

There's nothing too shocking in that. Frontier towns tend to come with a negative reputation. I have, though, been to enough of them in Colombia to know that this label is not always warranted; just don't expect them to feature high in lists of best places to live.

Yet, of the border towns I've stayed in across the world, Puerto Asís ranks as one of the more livable ones — along with Cúcuta. OK, recency bias together with my quite low expectations might be at play in this, however from a safety perspective — often the most pressing concern in such places — Puerto Asís seems almost crime-free.

With the town's population around the 50,000 mark in an area covering roughly six square kilometres — excluding the hinterland, that is — I walked practically every bit of it. Nowhere did I feel unsafe. What's more, none of the residents ever advised me to exercise caution in certain parts, as often happens in other big towns and cities.

'The moto taxi drivers are the most irksome, offering their services by beeping, gesturing and/or calling out 'moto' as they pass by. It's almost as if it's an offence to walk.'

The place appeared delinquent-free. It was even largely devoid of the Colombian-standard, in-your-face wandering street vendors and beggars. (A local tienda bar owner told me that the area has been controlled by non-state actors, hence less obvious delinquency on the streets. Obligatory payments to officially proscribed armed groups come with certain benefits, akin to the days when the IRA allegedly kept drug pushers out of the neighbourhoods it managed in Northern Ireland.)

The most irksome element is the motorbike, or moto, taxi drivers who frequently offer their services by beeping, gesturing and/or calling out 'moto' as they pass one by. It's almost as if it's an offence to walk anywhere or merely stand around. It also seems that the humble bicycle is frowned upon. This is Moto Town, or Motown if you will.

Truck luck

Now, if you ask me what Puerto Asís's unique selling point is, well outside of what I've already described, I struggle to come up with anything. The town itself has no outstanding landmarks and there isn't much on the must-do/visit list.

What's more, the closest water courses, the Putumayo and Cocaya rivers, don't entice one in for a dip. Quite a shame that, considering the heat. Also, the sands on the Putumayo River's banks are inviting, so it's unfortunate its waters don't follow suit.

It's even on the more expensive side when it comes to my BBC (beer, bread, coffee) staples — more expensive than Bogotá's working-class barrios that is. This, though, isn't unusual. Unlike in some other countries, Colombia's capital is cheaper for certain essentials compared to the country's provincial towns. (A special mention to Panadería Mickey, all the same. It offers a decent enough tinto, small black coffee, for a very reasonable 1,200 pesos.)

My most eventful moment was seeing the efforts of a few lorry drivers trying to free a truck stuck in the aforementioned sands of the Putumayo River. The episode did merit a YouTube Shorts video.

Chasing La Chorrera

My visit to Puerto Asís was to use it as a departure point to go by river to La Chorrera, the Roger Casement village as I call it, deep in the Amazon.

Alas, trying to get to La Chorrera from Puerto Asís by boat proved complicated and costly. In fact, it's more straightforward and currently cheaper to fly from San José del Guaviare. From a carbon footprint perspective, the flights might have a bigger impact but I did try to take the more environmentally friendly option. If only the most vociferous climate activists were more like me, eh?

Others may visit or pass through Puerto Asís for similar reasons i.e. to get a taste of the Amazon jungle by boat. And there are more hassle-free places to get to than the isolated La Chorrera. So as a river-port town close to Ecuador and within two days' boat ride of Peru, Puerto Asís is probably an unavoidable town for certain travellers. That it has countless hotels and motels is evidence of that.

Nonetheless, few seem to stay in the town for longer than necessary. A day or two at most.

The nine days I spent in Puerto Asís were less of a ringing endorsement of the place and more a reflection of my current 'wherever I am is my home' state of mind.

However, if I had to base myself in Puerto Asís for an indefinite time, I'd have no complaints about that. I can cope with its caliente air.
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An Arauca awakening

As we've mentioned before here, Colombia's popularity as a tourist destination has never been higher. The country is very much in fashion, not just among backpacking types but for a range of tourists. 

In many ways, it could be argued, we're just at the start of this upward swing. The potential for sustained growth in this sector appears substantial, like the size of the country itself (for the record, of Colombia's 32 departments, three are bigger in area than the island of Ireland).

'You are now entering Tame, Arauca.' (Photo from Facebook.)

We already have fairly well-established areas such as Cartagena, Santa Marta and their surrounds on the Caribbean coast, the Eje Cafetero (coffee region), Medellín and the capital city Bogotá to name the most obvious.

There are other areas, however, that are practically virgin territory when it comes to tourism, and more or less anything else for that matter. Vast tracts of the previously written about Caquetá and Putumayo, for example, fall into that category.

Another department that has plenty to boast about but is rarely even considered as a place to visit is Arauca on the eastern extremes, bordering Venezuela. It's part of Colombia's vast Llanos or plains; in over-simplified terms, cowboy country.

As has been the case with most of the country's other more remote locations, one big reason why tourists, both those from inside and outside, were reluctant to visit was down to the internal conflict. Now, however, with the Farc and paramilitary problems fading post the peace agreement, the associated security concerns are also abating.

What's more, in this air of optimism circling around Colombia, coming from both near and far, everybody's looking to get some warmth (strike it rich, we could say) from this new positive light. And why not?

Tame's historical role in Colombia is evident. (Photo from Facebook.)

To this end, those working in Arauca's fledgling tourism sector certainly don't lack energy and enthusiasm. The problem, though, is getting their message out to a wider audience in a country full of beauty spots, varied as many of them are. Other Colombians are unaware of the region's attractions, never mind outsiders.

As Carlos Alberto Duque, the creator of the Colombia Realismo Mágico slogan and who realises the tourism potential Arauca has, puts it: "Each place has sights to show off, a story to tell, but not many are good at getting the message out there."

Arauca's location doesn't help either. By bus, it's a good 12-hour trip from Bogotá just to reach its borders and, on the way, the argument could be made that you pass places more or less equal in terms of landscape and culture. Coupled with this is the fact that, for many backpacking types, it's unnecessarily off the beaten track, basically a 'road to nowhere', considering Venezuela is off-limits for most right now.

That aside, while our short visit to Tame was mostly taken up with the town's annual festival, the all-round tourism pull the place has is evident.

For starters, what's a negative is also a positive. Not many tourists come here, so as tends to happen in such places, the locals are even friendlier than the Colombian norm. There also doesn't appear to be any 'gringo prices' in operation.

Some of Tame's, um, impressive sights ...

For bird watchers, the region is fluttering with delights. Indeed, its wildlife in general is a big selling point (and a reason why we'll be keen to return to go on the look for caiman, giant turtles and monkeys to name just a few). 

Throw in the fact that over half the area of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy National Park, home to Colombia's third highest peak, is situated in Arauca and nature lovers have plenty of reasons to visit.

From a cultural point of view, outside of the cowboy and meat-eating lifestyle, there is an indigenous influence in certain aspects, something that the locals seem eager to enhance and promote. 

Tame itself is known as the 'cradle of freedom' (cuna de libertad), the place where Latin America's great liberators Simón Bolívar and General Francisco de Paula Santander met for the first time, just weeks before the decisive Battle of Boyacá in 1819. This is honoured with an impressive monument of the two men seated in conversation.

Another not-very-well-known attraction is Arauca's cacao. The department is actually home to award-winning chocolate on an international level. Chocolate could become for the region what coffee is for the Eje Cafetero, which draws tourists all year round.

Specifically, in relation to the town of Tame, its climate is relatively fresh for a low-lying tropical region. So even with temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius, it doesn't feel overbearing thanks to the refreshing breeze blowing about.

With plans afoot to develop a 'Ruta de los Llanos', basically a multi-departmental tourism-focused way through the plains, Arauca's delights could be set to become more accessible and widely known.

An 'Arauca awakening' of sorts. You read it here first!

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Colombia: For better and for worse

In our last post, we saw how the security concerns some may have about visiting the departments of Caquetá and Putumayo may be a bit off the mark. In a way, you could say both places are microcosms of what Colombia as a whole was for the international community just a decade or so ago.

Colombia has plenty to offer on the tourism front. Is it set to become overrun with foreigners?

Only those with a devil-may-care attitude, and slightly crazy to boot, would consider touring the country independently. Only certain spots were seen as relatively safe in an overall dangerous country; now, the opposite is pretty much the case.

Of course, that's a very welcome development, the almost complete transformation of a country's external image from no-go to go-to. These days, as it has been for a while, it's the 'loony left' neighbour Venezuela that's the place to avoid (even Wrong Way has his doubts now; what a difference a year makes).

We only need to look at the various publications that have listed Colombia as one of the top countries in the world to visit in 2017 to get a measure of this bright, new global appeal (for example, Bloomberg, CNN and Lonely Planet, among others).

We expats here have been endorsing Colombia as a tourist destination for years, but it took the recent peace agreement between the government and Farc guerrillas to give the place the 'official' stamp of approval; Colombia is de moda. So it seems in any case.

It will be interesting to see if this new-found love abroad will convert into an increase in tourism numbers in the year and years ahead. 

Considering what the country already offers and its potential, it would appear that things are only going to get better on this front for the foreseeable future. (Do note, the country needs to tighten up significantly on its rubbish management and waste disposal culture when entering the tourism 'big league'. This is to name just one area where work is required.)

Yet, like many places that become universally popular, that this means it's 'better' depends on who you ask.

The tourist influx on Colombia's Caribbean coast has been ongoing for years, with areas that were once tranquil spots now becoming somewhat overrun.

San Agustín: A must-see for many ...

Indeed, for some of the longer-term expats, there's a danger of the country losing a little appeal if big-spending foreigners start flocking here in numbers. A bit selfish and apocalyptic that one perhaps. 

(I must say I didn't feel comfortable on my recent one-day visit to San Agustín's archaeological park just because of all the foreign faces about. But what does one expect at a Unesco World Heritage Site?! Plus, because of the crowds I somehow avoided having to pay; silver lining and all that.)

That aside, and while not trying to pour cold water on things, the peace process currently in place is not, obviously enough, a panacea for all the country's ills. For one, you've the issue of former guerrillas continuing with criminality to make ends meet, but now arguably doing it in a way that's a more direct threat to the civil population.

There's also what could be seen as the more worrying and difficult-to-tackle problem of general crime in a vastly unequal country that happens to be an important source of one of the world's most popular illegal drugs. This 'common or garden' safety issue will more than likely keep tourism numbers in check, as it does in other Latino countries.

So while Colombia's doors may now be open to the outside world like never before, there's no guarantee that this will have any positive impact on the average local. It might just make things worse, in a number of ways.
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Caquetá & Putumayo's friendly fire

There's a school of thought that suggests that travellers who seek out non-tourist areas are generally doing themselves a disservice. Basically, the reason why some places aren't holiday hotspots is that there's just nothing of interest in them. There's merit to that of course.

Puerto Rosario's 'port' on the Putumayo River.

Yet, places off the beaten track have very often appealed to this writer; 'the only tourist in the village' kind of thing. 

What's more, especially in relation to Colombia, why some locations aren't popular isn't necessarily because they're dull, it's more a case that they're seen, or at least were seen, as being potentially dangerous.

The sparsely populated departments of Caquetá and Putumayo, with large tracts of them once being guerrilla territory, are examples of this. Other Colombians, never mind foreigners, would generally only go there if they had to, and for many that's still the way.

Fair enough, in a country full of beautiful landscapes, the argument could be made that whatever these two departments have to offer you'll find similar in other more trusted – and more 'happening', perhaps – regions.

That might be true, but for those looking to step off the tourist trail somewhat yet still be entertained, Caquetá and Putumayo (from the little bit we saw of these large departments) don't disappoint. Impressive sights, refreshing clear-water rivers to escape the heat and very friendly people await.

On that last one, it's largely due to the fact that tourism has been pretty much alien to many of the towns we visited that practically everyone goes out of their way to help – even more so than the Colombian average.

Indeed, if you were being overly picky, at times it gets a bit too much if you're just looking for a moment to yourself or with your fellow travel companions. You can't have it all your own way all the time, though.

As for those clear-water rivers, the brown-tainted Putumayo excepted, they serve as decent substitutes for sea and sand in this sweaty tropical region on the doorstep to the Amazon, hundreds of miles away from the nearest coast. Caquetá's capital Florencia and the adjacent Belén are well-equipped in this regard.

A land of rivers, many refreshing rivers ...

The town of Curillo marks a departure point to make a crossing into Putumayo via the voluminous river of the same name. 

The route we took was a two-hour speedboat journey up-river to Puerto Rosario. Only a few short months ago the idea of a couple of foreigners travelling solely for tourist reasons to Curillo, Puerto Rosario and, further into Putumayo, the town of Puerto Guzmán was largely unheard of. But a modicum of ignorance on our part worked in our favour.

It all felt very safe, despite what some Colombian friends in other parts of the country were telling us. The friendliness of the locals was apparent throughout. 

Only in Curillo, the local teenagers apart, did people seem a little more stand-offish. That wasn't in a cold way, however. It was just they appeared less interested to ask questions and engage compared to the other towns. That might be down to a policy of minding your own business in an area with a recent violent past.

Putumayo's principal city, Mocoa and the nearby Villagarzón are a bit more 'on' the tourist map, but there's no sign of the locals suffering tourism weariness. 

A big reason why they appear more popular is down to the Fin del Mundo ('End of the World') trek situated halfway between the two urban centres. It's certainly worth checking out, but if you go during a holiday season as we did, it's not exactly a remote escape into the wilderness as you'll have plenty of companions during the 30-minute or so hike to 'World's End'.

That aside, it will probably be some time before the areas we visited become as popular as the more established places on the Colombian tourist scene.

Yet, with a few important fundamentals already in place and the region becoming, hopefully, more stable in a post-conflict Colombia, there's no reason to completely rule out these parts just because they don't tend to be featured in the guide books.

Sure there are no better guides than the friendly locals you'll meet there.
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The Aroca case: An early test for post-conflict Colombia?

Stop the presses! 'Colombian politician in corruption scandal!' 

In a country that does corruption as regularly and spectacularly as the best of them, it's not a very exciting announcement, is it? It's even less so when the story comes from the country's backwater department of Putumayo. 'Move on, nothing to see here.'

Governor Aroca: Her political career is on the line. (Photo from Facebook.)

Yet, digging a bit deeper into this distant affair, it appears there's something a little sinister going on. 

The politician accused of the wrongdoing may actually be the victim. Dark forces with the state's legal apparatus behind them conspiring to remove a governor from office as she doesn't quite suit their agenda. That's the thinking in some quarters anyway.

Here's the low-down: Putumayo's first female governor, Sorrel Aroca Rodríguez of the Allianza Verde (Green Alliance), was found to have committed irregularities in the signing of life insurance contracts for eleven deputies during her time as president of the department's assembly in 2014. 

The investigating authority, La Procuraduría (Inspector General), has ordered that she be dismissed as governor and banned from serving public office for eleven years.

The amount of money in question here is 20 million Colombian pesos, about €6,000, so not exactly astronomical. Plus, it appears that there was no personal financial gain for Aroca out of this episode.

What she has been blamed of is running up additional, unnecessary costs, as well as not being transparent in her actions. Whatever the case, it certainly seems the punishment far outweighs whatever crime she may have been guilty of. Of all the corrupt things that happen here, this seems pretty mediocre.

For Aroca's supporters, there's more than a whiff of something underhand at work here. Her young, female face doesn't fit the bill for the traditionalists, thus they want her out.

Questions have been raised over the way the case seemed to be fast-tracked through the Procuraduría's office, in what is seen as a final hit from the old Alejandro Ordóñez regime. (Ordóñez has previous form in trying to take out those not of his own creed.)

As somebody who describes herself as a governor for a post-conflict Colombia, if it is a case of conservative forces moving against the 39-year-old, it highlights the kind of problems the country faces in trying to put a bloody past behind it.

Aroca is appealing the decision and for the Putumayans who want her to stay on as governor, the hope is that her case will be viewed in a more favourable light under the new Fernando Carrillo-led Procuraduría.

However, should the Procuraduría's original finding hold and Aroca is removed from office, it won't cause too much of a stir in Bogotá's corridors of power. 

Therein might lie one of the bigger problems for this new Colombia being constructed, continuing to ignore the fringes. We'll watch this space with interest.
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